FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES Presents in Association with 3311
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FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES presents In Association with 3311 PRODUCTIONS A 21 LAPS Production ANNA KENDRICK CRAIG ROBINSON JUNE SQUIBB LISA KUDROW STEPHEN MERCHANT TONY REVOLORI WYATT RUSSELL AMANDA CREW DIRECTED BY .......................................................................JEFFREY BLITZ SCREENPLAY BY .................................................................JEFFREY BLITZ STORY BY ..............................................................................MARK DUPLASS & .................................................................................................JAY DUPLASS and .................................................................................................JEFFREY BLITZ PRODUCED BY .....................................................................SHAWN LEVY, p.g.a. .................................................................................................DAN COHEN, p.g.a. .................................................................................................P. JENNIFER DANA, p.g.a. .................................................................................................MARK ROBERTS EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS...................................................JEREMY KIPP WALKER .................................................................................................ROSS JACOBSON .................................................................................................TOM McNULTY .................................................................................................SHELDON RABINOWITZ DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY .........................................BEN RICHARDSON PRODUCTION DESIGNER ...................................................TIMOTHY DAVID O’BRIEN FILM EDITOR ........................................................................YANA GORSKAYA COSTUME DESIGNER..........................................................PEGGY STAMPER MUSIC BY ..............................................................................JOHN SWIHART MUSIC SUPERVISOR ...........................................................ANDREA VON FOERSTER CASTING BY .........................................................................RACHEL TENNER, CSA Running time 87 minutes 1 Ex-maid of honor Eloise (Anna Kendrick) - having been relieved of her duties after being unceremoniously dumped by the best man via text - decides to hold her head up high and attend her oldest friend's wedding anyway. She finds herself seated at the 'random' table in the back of the ballroom with a disparate group of strangers, most of whom should have known to just send regrets (but not before sending something nice off the registry). As everyone's secrets are revealed, Eloise learns a thing or two from the denizens of Table 19. Friendships - and even a little romance - can happen under the most unlikely circumstances. TABLE 19 is directed by Jeffrey Blitz (SPELLBOUND, ROCKET SCIENCE). The screenplay is by Jeffrey Blitz with story by Mark Duplass & Jay Duplass and Blitz. The film stars Anna Kendrick (PITCH PERFECT, UP IN THE AIR), Craig Robinson (THIS IS THE END, HOT TUB TIME MACHINE), June Squibb (NEBRASKA, LOVE THE COOPERS), Lisa Kudrow (“Friends,” “The Comeback”), Stephen Merchant (“The Office,” “The Ricky Gervais Show”), Tony Revolori (THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, DOPE), Wyatt Russell (22 JUMP STREET, EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!), Amanda Crew (“Silicon Valley,” THE AGE OF ADALINE). TABLE 19 is produced by Shawn Levy, p.g.a. (ARRIVAL), Dan Cohen, p.g.a. (FIST FIGHT), P. Jennifer Dana, p.g.a. (IT FOLLOWS), and Mark Roberts (IN A WORLD). Executive producers are Jeremy Kipp Walker (HALF NELSON), Ross Jacobson (BRIGSBY BEAR), Tom McNulty (THE SPECTACULAR NOW) and Sheldon Rabinowitz (MR. RIGHT). The filmmaking team includes director of photography Ben Richardson (BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD), production designer Timothy David O’Brien (GANGSTER SQUAD), film editor Yana Gorskaya (THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER), costume designer Peggy Stamper (ROAD TRIP), music by John Swihart (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE), music supervisor Andrea von Foerster (500 DAYS OF SUMMER,), and casting by Rachel Tenner, CSA (ZOOLANDER 2). 2 “I had never thought about table placement before this movie. Now I feel like I’m always going to figure out where I stand with the bride and groom based on that!” -- Actress Anna Kendrick (Eloise McGarry) Until a few weeks before Eloise McGarry’s best friend’s wedding, she was the bride’s maid of honor, but a nasty text breakup with boyfriend Teddy, the bride’s brother and best man, has turned her into to an unwanted guest. Since she helped plan the seating chart, Eloise knows exactly what it means when she is assigned to Table 19. Table 19 at the Millner-Grotsky affair is filled with the people who had to be invited, but who no one actually expected to attend. From the bride’s former nanny and some random business associates of her father’s to the ex-best friend and a distant, disreputable relative, each person is there for a different reason and each is hoping for a transformative outcome. “It’s a story about six people who arrive at a wedding that they probably should not have come to in the first place,” says writer and director Jeffrey Blitz, whose debut film, SPELLBOUND, was nominated for an Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature. “They are seated at the worst table and somehow end up having their own meaningful adventure that intersects with the wedding, without really having anything to do with it directly.” TABLE 19, which essentially takes place in a single day, centers on Eloise, played by Anna Kendrick, who is there to confront the man who broke her heart. Like Eloise, everyone else at Table 19 has an ulterior motive for being there. “I really like the idea that everyone is hiding something at the outset,” producer Dan Cohen says. “All of them are people dealing with their own personal crises against the backdrop of a wedding. It’s only later that they open up.” Banished from Table 1, Eloise arrives with a sizeable chip on her shoulder. “I think it’s fair to say she’s a hot mess,” says producer Shawn Levy. “And that’s always a good basis for comedy. Anna Kendrick is so exactly what Eloise needs to be — caustic, guarded and sometimes sharp-elbowed, but beautifully vulnerable. You really root for her.” Eloise has come to the wedding to prove she is over Teddy. There’s just one problem — she’s not. “She’s still in love with him,” says producer P. Jennifer Dana. “When she got the invitation she went back and forth. ‘Am I going to go?’ ‘Am I not going to go?’ ‘I was the Maid 3 of Honor.’ ‘I’m no longer the Maid of Honor.’ When she does show up, it’s much to the wedding party’s – and her ex’s - dismay.” In Blitz’s experience, many people have had the same kind of humbling experience at a wedding. “I’ve had my own Table 19-like situations, sitting with all the oddballs,” he says. “For me, being at that table means that those people end up being the most important part of your day, while the bride and groom are hanging out with the more impressive people at Tables 1, 2 and 3.” According to producer P. Jennifer Dana, who says wedding comedies are often the best date-night movies, TABLE 19 is a story she hadn’t seen before. “I laughed out loud reading it. It has an original twist and there’s an emotional underpinning with every character that’s incredibly relatable. Often at a wedding, you don’t know your tablemates and it starts off shy and awkward. You’re wondering who you’re sitting next to and, perhaps more importantly, why.” Levy, who has been developing the project since its inception, calls the concept both relatable and ripe for comedy. “It’s very funny, but I think Jeff has made it very touching as well,” he says. “It’s easy for a movie like this to fall back on stereotypes, but every single person at that table is singular in the ways in which they’re flawed and also worthy of redemption.” Blitz spent two years working on the screenplay before production began, building the narrative from outline to completed screenplay. “The story evolved and changed, characters came and went, but I was consistently blown away by his ability to create moments that are sad and hilarious at the same time,” says Cohen. Stuck trying to drum up conversation with a table full of strangers, the characters make snap judgments about each other based on their first impressions and their own insecurities. “In the movie, people consistently say the wrong thing, in funny or provocative ways,” according to Blitz. “Part of the fun is discovering that the assumptions we make about the characters are totally off base. As the day goes on, the people at the table share more of their honest selves. As they each start to open up, they discover that the things they were hiding from each other don’t actually need to be hidden. They are all revealed to be something quite different — and much more complicated — than they initially appear.” 4 CASTING THE WEDDING PARTY Writer/director Jeffrey Blitz assembled an eclectic and supremely talented group of performers to portray the outliers seated at the far end of the wedding reception. “With an ensemble movie like this, it all comes down to the chemistry of the cast,” Blitz says. “If you get that right, you’re 90 percent there.” To play Eloise, the film’s emotional center, Blitz turned to an old friend, colleague and an actress he truly adores, Anna Kendrick. Blitz tailored the role for Kendrick, whom he met about 10 years ago while making the feature film ROCKET SCIENCE. “I wrote